http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2007/04/adults-are-unable-to-tell-when-children.html - Adults are unable to tell when children are lying

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With their wide eyes and innocent hearts, you might think it's easy to tell when a child is lying. Oh no it isn't. Not according to Leif Stromwall and colleagues, who found adults were useless at detecting when children were lying.
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It's no wonder the undergrads were so poor at spotting the children's lies - the children seemed to anticipate their lie-detection strategies. For example, the most commonly used cue the undergrads said they looked for was a lack of detail in the children's accounts, but meanwhile the children's most commonly cited strategy for appearing convincing was to add detail to their accounts by drawing on information they knew about from other people's experiences. The undergrads also said they had looked for signs of nerves, while the children said they had tried to stay calm.
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I wonder if there's some builtin circuitry to believe kids ? Could be adaptive for their survival.

>the most commonly used cue the undergrads said they looked for was a lack of detail in the children's accounts

Interesting, because to me one of the biggest indicator of a lie is *excessive* detail -- people who think decorating and bedazzling their account with specific details makes it more believable.

Undergrads?  They're complaining that UNDERGRADS can't detect children's lies?

Of course they can't, they're UNDERGRADS!  They've never had children, they know NOTHING!

Most of them have never even had a JOB!  And you're making conclusions about "Adults" based on UNDERGRADS?!

Oy.  Some people's children.

Gotta admit, that was a poor population to choose from.  It's like asking a group of men to identify effective strategies for dealing with menstrual cramps.

Not that I claim to be any good at sniffing out a kid's bullshit story.  At times they live in their own reality that is completely isolated from the one the rest of us live in, so that they often believe their lies.  Heck, sounds like some of our nation's leaders.

I have found that every time somebody says "I swear by Allah" he's lying; without a single exception.

Since when are adults good at telling when other adults lie to them?

I would imagine that the ability to conceal truth would be an evolutionarily selected for skill.

Why, because "No, there's not a tiger over there" helps the clan survive?

Having the ability doesn't mean you use it all the time

Evolutionists reckon that the driving force behind the increase in human brain size was the advantage to be gained by successfully deceiving other humans.

Wow, that's obscure.  And I think it has a 'chicken and egg' problem -- which came first, the big brain able to lie, or the big brain which could be lied to?

'Cause a tiger doesn't particularly care what you tell it as it's about to eat you.

I've heard the big brain development explained by better and better tool use.  I've heard it explained as 'more cooling' allowing early man to run longer and faster.  I've heard it explained through "language development" -- but not to lie, just to plan hunts and future activities.

But never through lieing -- that's a new one.

Better tool use doesn't explain increased brain size; plenty of primates use tools.

There has been a shift in evolutionary biology to giving more importance to inter-species rivalry (remember the unit of evolution is the individual; the species is just a bye-product). An evolutionary trait that would allow the individual to take advantage of his fellow could have considerable reproductive advantage.

Read "The Red Queen" by Ridley, if you wish to pursue the matter further.
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Queen-Evolution-Human-Nature/dp/0060556579/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-2943850-1038537?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177112253&sr=1-1

intra-species sorry!